The kids divided into groups of about 5-6 kids and rotated through the water tray to take their turns. A parent volunteer at each water tray. The inks were put in a round palette. You don’t need much ink at all. The kids that were waiting enjoyed watching their friends try different color combinations and tricks with moving the ink around the water surface.

I found that the paint brushes made with real natural materials worked better than synthetic bristle brushes.

Some tricks to move the ink is to blow gently on the surface or from the side to move the water. Or create “currents” in the water away from the ink. The currents move the ink in swirls.

A lot of the kids loved the project because they felt like there was no one way to do this type of art and that there was no way to “screw it up”.

Op art, also known as optical art, is a style of visual art that makes use of optical illusions.

“Optical art is a method of painting concerning the interaction between illusion and picture plane, between understanding and seeing.” Op art works are abstract. When the viewer looks at them, the impression is given of movement, hidden images, flashing and vibration, patterns, or alternatively, of swelling or warping.

Why do artists use perspective?

Objects appear to get smaller as they recede into the background. To a viewer, an object actually shrinks by half in size each time the distance to it is doubled—something our eyes and brain use every day to decide where we are in relation to our surroundings.

There are three different types of perspective in art – geometric perspective, linear perspective, and aerial perspective.

Geometric perspective drawing is useful for architectural and mechanical drawings. In aerial perspective, the distant objects or spaces appear less sharp (or blurry) because of dust and water vapor in the air; as a result distant objects exhibit less contrast. Aerial perspective is particularly used in art involving landscapes. Linear perspective is common in art with buildings or other structures.

Vocabulary:

Op art, one-point perspective, concave, convex, complementary colors

Lesson:

Draw a vanishing point in the center of your paper.

Draw an even number of diagonal lines that radiate from the point to the edge of the paper. Recommended number of lines: 14. The lines do not have to be evenly spaced.

Add 2 concave lines (curving away from the vanishing point) in one of the triangles. In the next triangle, add two convex lines (curving toward the vanishing point). Continue adding lines all the way around. Add more than two in some places, to suit your design idea. Make sure space between lines (the white bands) are not too close together and not too close to the center vanishing point.

The triangles have now become cones with the addition of the curved lines. Choose two complementary markers to color the opposite cones, leaving the bands white.

Choose two different complementary colored pencils to shade the bands, darker on the edges and lighter in the center.

Tips:

Have the kids practice shading first with a colored pencil.
The kids should double-check that they have an even # of lines drawn. It is easy to mis-count the # of lines.
Use new or almost-new markers. They go through the color quickly.
Sometimes a child misses his/her pattern and colors the same color in the next “cone”, see below.

The art docent lesson today focused on further exploration of the creative possibilities of line, and we also talked about saturated or bright colors. We watched this video: https://vimeo.com/34698421

And then we did the same thing– using a piece of vellum with dots for eyes to find faces in the shapes that the children had drawn (the pictures attached are in-progress shots where you can see the dotted vellum).

After that, we looked at the color wheel and talked about the saturated tones of the rainbow that make up the basic color wheel, including some discussion about primary, secondary and tertiary colors, warm and cool tones, and the difference between “light” colors and “bright” colors.

The students learned a few traditional Chinese brush strokes. They first practiced how to hold the bamboo brush, then how to keep their fingers light on the brush, with the brush at times vertical to the paper, their elbows off the desks. Many kids stood to make it easier to stay light on the brush.

The kids practiced and practiced a simple up/down/up brush stroke to create what was the leaves on the bamboo stalk. They first used newsprint, then practiced more on rice paper. The students observed that different pressure of the brush on the paper created different results. The black paint on the rice paper created another element of observation, as the paint spread much easier on this paper.

The second stroke they practiced was the broad “stalk” stroke. They laid their brushes on the side and gently and lightly, moved the brush upwards towards the top of the paper creating segments of bamboo stalks. Too much pressure made the stalks too thick, and too little paint made the strokes too faint. The students continued to practice their strokes until they got the concept and brush movement.

After much practice, the kids created their painting following steps to create bamboo stalks and leaves on rice paper.

The lesson’s focus was on assemblage art with found objects and cast-off materials. We looked at the work of Louise Nevelson, an American sculptor (emigrated from Russia when she was three years old) known for her monumental, monochromatic, wooden wall pieces and outdoor sculptures.

The students focused on making something out of what would generally be considered nothing — taking what most people view as useless and arranging it in an artistic manner, elevating it from junk to art. Nevelson’s art appears puzzle-like — we encouraged the students to discover ways to layer the objects, create patterns and incorporate a variety of textures to create a unique composition.

Each piece was spray painted a monochromatic black or white (the students chose which color).

All the materials were donated from students. The kids had a great time going through the boxes and bags of materials to make choices for their pieces.

This was an art project that also had a lot to do with science. We planned to make sunprints, and lucky for us, there was **SUN** !

By the way, we did have a backup Seattle plan; sunprints can be made in cloudy weather, they just take much longer! We talked about these experiments as photographs–a word which means, literally: writing with light. We’ll be studying more about photography later this year, and will remind students about their experience with a light-sensitive surface.

We are planning to construct a quilt-like grid of the final pieces, so that it looks like a starry sky. The project was inspired, in part, by the work of artist Danielle Rante.

(born November 15, 1920) Wayne Thiebaud is an American painter whose most famous works are of cakes, pastries, boots, toilets, toys and lipsticks.

While he was with the Navy, Thiebaud spent time in New York (on leave) and began painting the pastries and other “American” food that he would become known for. He was very interested in creating realistic paintings and he did this by using thick paint in exaggerated colors. When he painted cakes, for example, he applied the paint like a baker would spread frosting. The food in his paintings looks real enough to eat.

Vocabulary:

Multimedia artists are contemporary artists who use a wide range of media to communicate their art. Multimedia art includes, by definition, more than one medium, therefore multimedia artists use visual art in combination with sound art, moving images and other media. Multimedia artwork also frequently engages senses other than sight, such as hearing, touch, or smell.

Questions:

What dessert would you draw? And why?

How would your frosting look? Any bright colors?

Beginning of lesson…

(names on front of paper in pencil) Students will arrange the tissue paper scraps on their paper, then brush the vinegar/water mixture over the scraps until they are wet and transferring the color to the paper. Volunteers will remove the tissue paper and let the pieces dry. Make compound/paint mixture at this point. Discussion time, then continue with the lesson.

Materials:

12” x 8” watercolor paper

Tissue Paper scraps

Mixture of distilled vinegar and water

Paint brushes to brush vinegar/water mixture

Colored paper for cupcake “liners”

Wall compound (powdered form #90) mixed with tempra paint (4 colors) and water